And so, we at RCPU give the usual response: Yeah, so? The Mac OS has long been
superior to Windows, and although we haven't seen Leopard yet, we're sure that,
security hassles aside (as if those don't exist in Vista), the new Mac OS probably
blows Microsoft's latest effort out of the desktop water. It's important to
note here that we actually like Apple stuff at RCPU. We're far from being Microsoft
zealots -- remember, we don't work for Redmond.

Your editor owned an iMac for years before leaving it behind in Europe and
would definitely consider buying another one at some point. And, of course,
we've been on board with the iPod for years, like the rest of the world (except
for one of the producers of this newsletter, who confessed to us earlier this
year that he has a Zune -- he will, of course, remain anonymous).

But every time Apple trots out a new version of the Mac OS, we hear the same
old lines about how much better it is than whatever Microsoft is offering (fair
enough, but that's like saying that Seattle is rainy) and how this is going
to be the release that finally provides a market-share breakthrough for Apple.
Whatever. Yes, the Mac OS is gaining in market share -- as we noted earlier
this week, it's encroaching on double digits -- and there's well-documented
discontent with Vista both among consumers and in the enterprise.

And still, Windows dominates, and it will continue to dominate. Apple gave
up on the enterprise a long time ago, so there's obviously no threat to Microsoft
there. But even on the consumer side, people just seem to stick with Microsoft.
There are probably a lot of reasons why -- familiarity, previous investment
in software, price -- but that's the way it is. (Hey, it's not as if Apple's
hurting, anyway. That whole iPod thing made some money after all. Steve Jobs
won't need another bailout from Redmond any time soon.)

So, we add to the list
we started after Microsoft's most recent (and staggeringly successful, even
by Redmond's standards) earnings report. Maybe you remember (and here, we quote
ourselves):

"Vista stinks? Microsoft makes more money. Google's on the rise?
Microsoft makes more money. SaaS is gaining a foothold? Microsoft makes more
money. Linux is getting established in the enterprise? Microsoft makes more
money. The EU wants to appropriate the campus in Redmond and turn it into
some sort of hippie compound for rogue socialist economists? Microsoft...you
get the idea."

So, this week: Apple comes out with another vastly superior operating system?
Yep, you guessed it -- Microsoft makes more money.